Grain Aggregation Centres under construction; stakeholders query rice waiver

About twenty five (25) Grain Aggregation Centre (GAC) are under construction by the federal government in fourteen states of the federation towards ensuring easy access to agricultural produce by major off takers in rice, maize, sorghum and millet for processing into various derivative just as many of the rice stakeholders have queried the rationale behind import waivers in the face of these centres. 

This GAC according to our source is targeting about fifty six centres across the nation for wider coverage towards generating a private sector driven grains cleaning centres that will mitigate the challenges of integrated millers as regards getting quality rice paddy and others for processing into standard products that will attract global market.

Also it was gathered this initiative is coming on the heels of ensuring market for the farmers and at the same time checkmating millers’ challenges of going from one farm to another before getting standard agricultural produce for processing and packaging for global market acceptability of nutritious  and nourishing food.

Speaking with the Federal Director of Grain Reserve, Engr. Olumeko who confirmed the construction of the centres added that the programme is intended to be driven by the private sector towards checkmating substandard agricultural produce that are often encountered by the integrated millers during the course of buying from farm to farm. 

He pointed that farmers will be guaranteed already made market for their produce.

Engr. Olumeko said “these centres are meant to clean up the grains and it will be private sector driven while government will continue to provide enabling policy. The farmers will take their paddy there for cleaning operation and storage at a very agreeable price that will be fixed by the National Committee on the Guarantee Minimum Price at the beginning of every year”.

Meanwhile stakeholders have condemned the waivers given to rice importers saying it is sabotage to the federal government’s rice policy where a substantial subsidy inputs’ supports have been given to farmers to increase production and which has left many of them with plenty paddy begging for market.

The stakeholders claimed that the basis for the import waivers was not sufficient since the government inputs’ support have increased paddy productions which the millers can processed into milled rice for local consumption saying the incidence of market glut that the farmers are experiencing is a function of the import which has contradicted policy of checkmating rice importation of the federal government.

Rice import waivers by the Federal Government is coming on the shortfall of 2.5 million metric tons to meet local consumptions which stakeholders have criticized as being retrogressive arguing that the support the crop value chains has been receiving for the last three years is enough to sustain local consumption rather than encouraging import to the detriment of farmers while creating jobs in other countries.

Many of the companies given the waiver have abused the numbers of allocation given to them at about 30% tariff concession according to Nigeria Custom spokesman Mr. Adeniyi who sometimes said that 26 companies given the rice waiver import have over imported the allocation given and they will be compelled to pay 70% on every excess quantity.  

Many farmers from the North have been complaining of none available markets for their rice paddy production with a confirmation with a reliable source from the federal government quarters who said they are always receiving call on where to get markets for paddy.

Bio-tech will enhance commercial agriculture- Executive Director of IAR, Prof. Mohammed Ishiyaku

The Executive Director, IAR, Samaru, Zaria, Prof. Mohammed Ishiyaku has commended the effort of the government for signing into law the bio technology bill which he stated its advantages will open more economic opportunities to the sector especially in the face of agricultural commercialization in the country where challenges of crops and livestock in terms of drought, pest and disease resistance will be drastically curtailed. He advocated for the encouragement of youths into breeders’ profession. Read the excerpts of the interview he had with the Food Farm News Publisher, Mr. Ayeni, Oladehinde. 

I want to congratulate you for your appointment as the new Executive Director, Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) and being the first of the cropping and REFILs meeting held in your tenure, let us meet you sir.

 I am Prof. Mohammed S. Ishiyaku, trained as a genetic plant breeder; I have worked as cowpea breeder, springing my career from the Ministry of Agriculture, Bauchi state, to an International Institute of Tropical Agricultural (IITA) before I took appointment with this great Institute, IAR. In my career as plant breeder, I have jointly participated with other scientists which have led to the release of eight different cowpea varieties.

With this background, I will like to start on the issue of limited breeders that is very strategic to agricultural development and food security, how do you think this issues could be tackled?

In my own opinion, we need to look back to our curriculum in the plant breeding in Nigeria and strategize it to target our younger people in this area. From my experience as a teacher in plant breeding courses, most of the complaint made by our students is always the abstract nature of our genetics, and how breeding is being carried out. If more teaching aids are developed and provided for teachers in the plant breeding courses at the first degree level, I am of the view it will attract more students and the perceived difficulty of the course can then be reduced.

 From upstream there should be some special incentives for plant breeders. Elsewhere there is what is called plant breeders’ right when releases of varieties are made, some token is being paid to plant breeders who participated in the development of the variety, also the attraction by the developed seeds industry will absorbed the breeders and thereby attracting more younger stars into it. Strategically, no modern agriculture can expand without the participation of the plant breeders. As you have agreed to the fact that plant breeders are key to stimulating other research processes like crops’ management and protection. 

It is the creation of new varieties that will create opportunity for new research areas. For example with  introduction of a new variety, you need to develop a new process of management practices for the variety therefore  if plant breeder activities are slow in any agriculture, then growth in the sector will be stagnated.

In view of the bio safety bill that has been signed by the Mr. President, what are the steps Research Institute like yours must take to ensure its effective practices considering limited funding?

 I must congratulate all Nigerians especially those who have hands in the pushing for the signing of this bill because it will provide a flood gate of activities that will be developmental associated with financing of science and technology in the area of bio technology. For us, it will now enable us to conclude the research that we have been undertaking in terms of developing a new variety that will be utilized by the technology tools. 

Conventional plant breeding has developed more than agriculture to a very large extent, but somehow there are certain things that cannot be conventionally accomplished scientifically until certain modern bio technology tools are applied. This bill will enable the utilization of such products from bio-technology. That means without signing the bill we would have been left behind thereby denying our farmers opportunity for better yield through resistance to though pest diseases. 

Let me be specific, I am leading the research on insect resistance to cowpea, the  BT cowpea now has resistant to one notorious insect which do not have conventional sources of resistance. So the passage of this bill we now enable us to move out from on-station trial to on-farm trial and eventually be able to release this resistant cowpea variety to our farmers for use. 

Some school of thought are looking at it from the angle of low funding research Institutes are facing with the addition of this Bt passage, would this funding be able to accommodate its implementation to effectiveness?

We are quite hopeful that the passage of the bill in my own opinion is the reflection of the commitment of the government and our legislators in harassing the potentials of this new Bio-technology. With this, it is now left to us scientists to exact appropriate pressure on both sides of legislators and executives especially the legislators who represent their constituencies to provide necessary funding to enable us exploit our full potentials in this regards.

What benefits do you think bio technology bill signed will avail the agricultural sector for the benefits of people who do not know?

 The importance is coming based on many constraints the agricultural sector is facing in both livestock and crops. For example, drought is one area that conventional methods cannot control as there is limit to which any plant materials can withstand shortage of waters which is called drought, but through bio technology there are some inheritable materials or genes that is probably lacking in a plant which will be transferred in order to enhance resistance to drought or any other diseases or stress. 

AFAN President, Architect Kabiru

You are aware that there are plants that exist in the dessert and this is because they are endowed with a special gene that enable them to draw waters from the deepest part of the soil for survival. But these plants are similarly related to our conventional crops, and through the act of modern bio technology, one can transfer the genes in these plants grown in the wild to those ones planted on our farms so as to enable them have stronger resistance to  drought and other stress  even during scanty raining season. By this technology you can grow plants in unthinkable areas. 

For insect pest that I have just attributed to cowpea, about 15,000 different accessions of cowpeas from  all over the world have no resistance to this insect as it completely destroyed all these varieties thereby resulting to huge loss as high as 80%. But with the Bt resistance, the cowpea is now resistant to these insects pest, so this is just a few advantages that are bound to accrue to agricultural development. I am sure the next question by people will be how the muti national companies might exploit the situation to make money out of people from these products.

 I will say today we are using the mobile telephone, it is a technology that we are paying for but we are paying optionally as nobody forces us to adopt this technology, it is based on the value derived from it that made us to adopt it. You cannot tell me that the mobile telephone companies are not making profit on us but the difference is how much value we are getting out of our money. So if these products come, it is left to us to decide whether the value of them are important enough for us to invest in them as nobody is going to force anybody. 

What is your take on the moves going on to centralized budgetary allocation of all Agricultural Research Institute under ARCN?

In my opinion this is a pre matured move as we have seen how budgetary allocations to local government are being handled by state governments. I am not saying that the current Executive Director of the ARCN is not doing well as I have much respect for him. The current management of ARCN is good researchers that give value to research and strategy needed for it.  

 But our fear is what happens if somebody comes tomorrow who do not share this view nor has lesser commitment that may put research in a very tight corner. Research Institutes are institutions that are endowed with research intellectuals and there must be that freedom to work effectively. If we impose a straight jacket management including financial management, then the intellectual potentials for Research Institutes to independently think of how to solve problem will be comprised. 

So my submission is that the supervisory role or the coordinating role of the agricultural research council of Nigeria should be strengthened in such a manner that they would determine the strategic nature of research to be undertaken, they can determine what and what to be carried out as research priority in line with National development objectives. But as for financing, it should be left to the legislatives to determine how fund will be disbursed on the basis of convincing evidences presented by the research Institutes .

In the face of the present climate change and its related challenges like drought, how can the agricultural research Institute be positioned to meet these challenges?

First, I will like government to invest on capacity building of human resources through training. Each of the research Institute has several mandates to focus and government should ensure that the presumed expertise in this area does actually exist. Also, there should be an attendant financial commitment from government to ensure that these qualified human resources have actually expressed their maximum potentials in the areas of finding solution in the national agricultural problems and development.

Farmers want 20% of 2015 budget for agric development- AFAN President

The agricultural challenges are enormous and proactive steps have to be taken for radical challenge according to the President, All Farmers’ Association of Nigeria, Architect Kabiru Ibrahim who is asking the Federal Government to allocate 20% of the 2015 total budget of Four trillion naira to agricultural development that will give research, power and processing zone a right of place to economic development. Read his Excerpts below.

Let us meet you sir.

My name is Architect Kabiru Ibrahim, the President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN)

How is AfAN under your leadership?

AFAN is strategizing to get government recognition. We think this new government can do much more things to Nigerians by paying serious attention to agriculture as it is very clear that oil is almost a curse to us as Nigeria. Of course we have abandoned everything else and concentrate of oil. As you can see in the recent past we have had a problem of oil falling and becoming very uncertain as we had never had in the past. This has got negative effect on the current budget meaning our much reliance on oil has impacted negatively on all other sectors including agriculture. 

The only thing that we have that has kept us going even before oil was discovered is agriculture. So is just a question of restoring the dignity in the sector  by investing more, create a reliable environment for farmers to be able to improve their yield and be able to process their produce for market in a well packaged way rather than selling only at a primary form. We can only do this if there are accesses to finance with adequate funding of research so that farmers will be able to get improved inputs and access to land. You know there are a lot of innovations now in agriculture as you know what to plant and where a particular crop can have comparative advantages ecologically.

 You need to know the deficiency in a particular soil by introducing the nutrients that can complement the soil deficiency. You need to plant crops with high resistance to a particular climate change with a prolific seed that can make a farmer quickly get out from subsistence farming to commercial. With this, the country can become food secured and exporter of her produce. All these can be possible if we allowed Maputo declaration that says every signatory in African continent must devote 10% his annual budget to agriculture. We are even asking this government to dedicate 20% of its budget for two years to agriculture as it will tremendously help the sector as our budget stands at four trillion. 20% of 4 trillion multiply by 2 will give you 1.6 trillion which when properly deployed to developing agriculture will go a long way in creating processing zones that will be well powered by effective energy for processing and preservative of perishable produce for better market. Also there should be creation of parks where heavy duty tractors and combined harvesters are displayed for hiring to farmers.

 The idea of giving 2 -3 power horse tractors that the states are buying for farmers have shown that majority of these are sold out to the neighboring countries like Niger and Ghana just as some of the money injected into fertilizers are sham and fraud. For example if government put 3 billion naira in fertilizer procurement whereby about ten farmers will be asked to share a bag does not make any sense. It is a process that allows corrupt practices through connivers that always leads to inaccurate supply.

I want you to dwell more on these tractors that are being sold when given out to farmers, are we sure the farmers are real?

You see, our take in AFAN is that agriculture has crossed borders where your political inclination does not matter as long as you are a farmer. But when government in her wisdom decides to give out things based on political affiliation will also lead to sham as many of them sold out the tractors since they are not farmers. 

How structured is AFAN to close up this gap to ensuring effectiveness of whatever support government is giving as regards seeds, fertilizer, tractors etc?

We have always had the appropriate structures; AFAN is in every ward of the federation. We have chairmen in each local government, states and wards of the federation and all the government needs to do when she wants to distribute whatever inputs is to involve our members on the committee for effective monitoring of identifying real farmers so as to avoid the cases of meddle men. So we are well structured to do this. As I sit with you, I can call all my chairmen in all the states, and they will in turn call other chairmen at the local government and it can continue in this order down to the wards levels. 

If you look at Federal Government’s claim of 14 million farmers being reached to our compilation, you will agree with me that the number is too small compared to the population of farmers in Nigerial. Since I became the President of AFAN, I have asked all our states’ chairmen to bring all their registered farmers and what we are getting is quite impressive as an average of 600,000-700,000 from each state.

Some people are in the school of thought that government’s role should be limited to policy making while the aspect of buying and selling should be left with the private sectors, what is your take on that?

This should be the natural trend. The farmers choose to be a farmer by choice. So the government is just to give an enabling environment for farming to strive. As you put it yourself, good policy will help the system by making  farmers to farm appropriately by being about to choose comparative crops for farming with the necessary improved inputs that they can easy buy in the markets. 

The government tends to say that are subsidizing, but is there any such subsidy? It is the office people that are being subsidized not the farmers. In France for instance the farmers also play a part in the policy making as farmers’ population is about 3% of the total population, and there are lot of agricultural activities going on there with high level of food exports bringing money into the covers of the individual and governments. But here with population of farmers in the country, we can hardly feed ourselves talk less of exporting. But if government plays its part the way it should by providing appropriate level of power energy that will assist in processing of crops for better market, and also providing quality research that will give prolific seeds through thorough regulation with efficient soil information before planting. If you remember in the 60-70s, before the arrival of oil, the economy of Nigeria is driven by agriculture, and the arrival of crude oil has brought us to this mess.

Talking about finance, we have Bank of Agriculture (BOA) who is to deploy finance to farmers, how would you rate their performance?

You see the BOA concept is very good but the application is where I have reservation, while our farmers also are not helping matters by taking agriculture as business. Majority of them tend to think the borrowed money is free as they never bother to pay back this loan thereby denying many other farmers the opportunity of getting the money. This always brings back the issue of re financing of the bank because the money lends out is not paid back. Also you will recall the commercial agricultural loan which came up around 2009 that involved many commercial banks where many farmers benefitted but because of the low purchasing power of people, mindset of farmers, inefficient power energy and high cost of transportation, paying back become difficult. People who tampered with any government money should be made to pay penalty for doing so. But if they go scot free, then you cannot see any development in any sector. Also the BOA official must ensure qualification of farmers though due process before he or she can be given loan without needing to collect any note from the Minister or any other personality, and that is how a bank should work.

The ATA of this outgoing administration has claimed to be doing very well especially in area of inputs to farmers with food increase to 21 million metric tons in two years, what is your take on that?

It is very easy to make this claim that you have increased food production, but this should be associated with prosperity. If a farmer reduces twelfth of his production last year as result of not being able to sell what he has produced as a result of no market,  can that be called an increase in food production? Have you looked at the pocket of the farmers relatively to the purchasing power of the people? The fact is that the purchasing powers of Nigerians have reduced. Well I believe the fact are clearer now as the whole system has failed and this why many people are looking for this change. 

So if there was increase in food production as farmers are the largest population, so how come the change that swept this government aside? The increase is just rhetoric and it not real. If anybody is telling you farmers are making pumper harvest, I think they are making mistake as pumper harvest to farmers is being able to produce and sell, not production where buck of it are rotten away.

If you are being present before the senate as minister of agriculture, what are the defence you are going to make to promote agriculture as policy that will given a paradigm shift?

First we focus our investment in agriculture through our mind set. We do not necessary need to give direct money to farmers but through a well funding research that will assist farmers in terms of improved technologies and embracement of bio technology products to enhance crops and animal challenges as regards pest, diseases and drought. 

Take Burkina Faso for instance all the economy over there is completely funded by agriculture and this has happened because she has been able to adopt bio technology into agricultural system of the economy. I will advocate for a strategy where by comparative advantage crops on regional basis will be promoted with improved technology of research so that every region of our society will have what is best situated for it. Then you put in your energy to developing those crops in line with value chain production. In France I saw personally three segregated crops being planted in the three regions. While the corn is grown in the southern region, the North West plant soya beans and the other part grapes and all are doing well for the entire nation.

Let me have your word on mechanization tractorization of the federal government?

The concept as it is today is not worth it. 

You know if you are bringing these small tractors of two horse power and giving them to selected people, look they will not use them on their land as many of them sell it because they do not need it. Why should government be buying tractors every year? Because a tractor can be used for five years if well managed. What I am trying to say is that we should create parks for tractors where farmers can easily access varieties of tractors for clearing, ploughing and harvesters. For example if a group of farmers want to clear 1000 hectares, they can approach the park centres at an affordable price. 

This will be better than giving three or four horse power to a farmer who has no farm of his own. If you go to Ghana you will see some of these tractors that are sold there. A state in the North sometimes bought many of these small tractors, and many people given have sold them out to the neighbouring countries around. The Federal government tractorization of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development cannot work because of these smaller tractors. 

Anybody that want to do agriculture as business will have his own tractor, but what at AFAN level is doing is to ensure small scale farmers have access to these tractors through our groups. For agricultural commercialization to succeed, we need to emphasis on getting groups of farmers into groups to do mechanized farming.  This is what happens anywhere in the world. About fifty years ago in America, a large chunk of the population about 70% were farmers, but today you have a limited population, in France only 3% population are farmers who export sweet corn to other countries. All these sweet corn you see are from France.